“I urge people that are involved with this investigation to get some answers,” DiMaria says.

The official cause of death of Varughese, 19, was hypothermia. His body was found in a wooded area near the SIU campus, but his family believes Pravin might have been killed. They even paid for a second autopsy which concluded he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

The Carbondale police chief was fired recently.

“I don’t feel that I’m calling them out. What I feel is that I want them to know that their home community here is in full support of getting answers, getting resolved, as swiftly as possible,” DiMaria said.

Varughese’s mother is grateful for the mayor’s help.

“To me, if we get an answer now we can maybe get some kind of peace,” Lovely Varughese said.

The public information officer for Carbondale police say the death is still an open investigation and they cannot comment.